Energy consumption will become an issue if bitcoin really breaks through

[justusranvier]

I looked at those a while back and determined that the physics was flawed, stress strain and tidal forces would never allow such a thing to exist.  It's a real shame because the Matrioska brains could provide us with lots  of free beer.

Imagine a membrane with a sufficiently high strength to weight ratio that it could support itself and a tethered load against solar gravity based on the pressure of the solar wind without requiring orbital motion.

Now imagine building enough of these that they form a sphere around the sun.

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[alkuluku]

This means that the bitcoin network by itself would raise global electricity consumption by up to 7%

Please show me where I'm wrong!

You are wrongly assuming that bitcoins will still be used then.
People will switch to LTC, or any other altcoins easier to mine ...

If that's true it means there will never be a global cryptocurrency that's not controlled by any government.

[tiberiandusk]

I'm in prime wind power territory. Anyone want to invest in HashFarm? Buy some ASICs, a couple turbines, and sell extra electricity back to the grid to buy more ASICs. Use it to show energy conscious skeptics that we're not all "wasting" power. Who's with me?

/half joking
//it would be cool

[alkuluku]

There is no CO2 problem.
Global Warming craze is a scam.

Humans can tolerate up to 4% of CO2 in the air.
A lot of CO2 will be good for plants.
More plants == more food for humans.
more humans == more slaves for us.
Et cetera ...

"There was an echo."

[halfawake]

There is no CO2 problem.
Global Warming craze is a scam.

Humans can tolerate up to 4% of CO2 in the air.
A lot of CO2 will be good for plants.
More plants == more food for humans.
more humans == more slaves for us.
Et cetera ...

Well, since you brought it up: Report: 97% of scientists believe global warming is real.  Don't listen to us, listen to the experts.  

Even if what you said was true, there is still a limited amount of resources on the planet, and the point that the bitcoin infrastructure is wasteful in resource terms alone is entirely valid.

[Etlase2]

Well, since you brought it up: Report: 97% of scientists believe global warming is real.  Don't listen to us, listen to the experts.  

Even if what you said was true, there is still a limited amount of resources on the planet, and the point that the bitcoin infrastructure is wasteful in resource terms alone is entirely valid.

I'm pretty sure Ukigo's post was dripping with sarcasm (more humans == more slaves kinda gives it away). But it can be hard to detect over the internet sometimes.

[odolvlobo]

I'm in prime wind power territory. Anyone want to invest in HashFarm? Buy some ASICs, a couple turbines, and sell extra electricity back to the grid to buy more ASICs. Use it to show energy conscious skeptics that we're not all "wasting" power. Who's with me?

/half joking
//it would be cool

Unfortunately, you are still "wasting" energy. You could be using that energy to power your house instead.

[tiberiandusk]

I'm in prime wind power territory. Anyone want to invest in HashFarm? Buy some ASICs, a couple turbines, and sell extra electricity back to the grid to buy more ASICs. Use it to show energy conscious skeptics that we're not all "wasting" power. Who's with me?

/half joking
//it would be cool

Unfortunately, you are still "wasting" energy. You could be using that energy to power your house instead.

That's taken out of the extra.

[halfawake]

Well, since you brought it up: Report: 97% of scientists believe global warming is real.  Don't listen to us, listen to the experts.  

Even if what you said was true, there is still a limited amount of resources on the planet, and the point that the bitcoin infrastructure is wasteful in resource terms alone is entirely valid.

I'm pretty sure Ukigo's post was dripping with sarcasm (more humans == more slaves kinda gives it away). But it can be hard to detect over the internet sometimes.

Oops, good point.  My internet sarcasm detector is pretty bad, which is ironic considering that I'm highly sarcastic on the internet as well.

[herzmeister]

It doesn't matter if there is a natural cycle and if there is currently actual global "warming" or "cooling" going on.

The more we interfere with the natural (chaos-theoretical) global eco-system by depleting resources too fast or releasing too much CO2 too fast, the more we disturb processes that have been settling down through millions of years and to which we've adapted through evolution, and the higher will be the probability of effects to backfire at us (think atmospheric turnover).

I'm not talking about Earth itself, it will survive, at the end of the day we can only harm ourselves.

About Bitcoin, I'm confident that the energy issue will be solved in one way or another, probably in a somewhat surprising way.

[herzmeister]

Some of them even discuss how to prevent
 humans from spawning, because Earth ( so
they say ) must be inhabited only by plants and animals.

that's not necessary. Population only rises in 3rd world countries where survival pressure is high. They bear much offspring to compensate high child mortality, it's an evolutionary program. Population in the 1st world is stagnating at best. All that's required to live more harmonious with nature is that there exist a well enough living standard everywhere. And we in the first world wouldn't need to depend on exploiting the 3rd world if we'd properly recycle our stuff.

[altsay]

All of these issues come down to the nuclear energy in any way. It's cheap, clean if necessary precautions are taken, and dangerous as hell. In those regions that has nuclear, electricity per kW is way cheaper, so is the mining.

[Etlase2]

All of these issues come down to the nuclear energy in any way. It's cheap, clean if necessary precautions are taken, and dangerous as hell. In those regions that has nuclear, electricity per kW is way cheaper, so is the mining.

Nuclear power from the proposed thorium reactors is safe and easier to deploy than uranium reactors. It has very little backing because of political motives. www.energyfromthorium.com

[justusranvier]

Nuclear power from the proposed thorium reactors is safe and easier to deploy than uranium reactors. It has very little backing because of political motives. www.energyfromthorium.com

It's not thorium that makes those reactors so safe and effective, it's that the proposed design is a molten salt reactor instead of a water-based reactor.

The cool thing about a MSR is that as a liquid-fueled reactor it can burn U-235, U-233, Pu-239, or a mixture of all three at the same time.

[hashman]

I'm not talking about Earth itself, it will survive, at the end of the day we can only harm ourselves.

Then there are Greenies...
Some of them even discuss how to prevent
 humans from spawning, because Earth ( so
they say ) must be inhabited only by plants and animals.

Don't forget the protists.  Bacteria are the obvious rulers of this rock.

And for the record, the humans are kingdom animalia, phylum chordata, class mamallia, order primata, family/genus/species homo sapiens sapiens.     

[jubalix]

hmm lets see

we are using room size computers as PC's still nope

innovation in chips will sort this all out with extra impitus from an increasing btc price, as it has already done with asics

[Stampbit]

I predict threads started by wishful thinkers will greatly expend more of our resources than bitcoin will before it gets eclipsed by the next currency in a year or two.

[brenzi]

I predict threads started by wishful thinkers will greatly expend more of our resources than bitcoin will before it gets eclipsed by the next currency in a year or two.

Where exactly did you spot wishful thinking in the OP?
Your own assumption might be wishful thinking though. A currency that could rise above bitcoin within a year or two can only be one of the major cryptos that already exist. PPCoin and XRP are the only ones I know of that are not excessively wasteful.

[halfawake]

I'm in prime wind power territory. Anyone want to invest in HashFarm? Buy some ASICs, a couple turbines, and sell extra electricity back to the grid to buy more ASICs. Use it to show energy conscious skeptics that we're not all "wasting" power. Who's with me?

/half joking
//it would be cool

I'm planning on moving back to an area that gets a ton of sun and eventually getting solar panels.  I may do this exact thing, except with solar instead of wind.  Might have to do it during the off-peak months though since I was planning on using the solar grid for AC during the summer months.  If this mining profit calculator is at all close to accurate, it would make the payback period for the solar grid really quick if I could run it 24/7 during off peak months.  With these numbers, the payback is 50 days for a $15,000 solar grid, which is insanely short.  The only question is, does a solo mining gear actually pay for itself within 10 days?  Maybe I'll go ask on the mining forums.

[NewLiberty]

I think bio-engineered carbon dioxide eating bacteria is the answer.

You know that green plants already do this?
Bio-diesel powered Bitcoin water heaters.